Friday, October 31, 2008

Decent Interval: An Insider's Account Of Saigon's Indecent End by Frank Snepp. This is the memoirs of a CIA analyst stationed in the US embassy. The publication of the book caused a long-standing legal battle that the CIA eventually won. Snepp lost all royalties to the book. The fact that the CIA took him to court would suggest that there's some explosive details inhere. It does not disappoint.

Snepp points out that both in the US Embassy and Washington there was an unwillingness to deal with reality particularly on the part of the ambassador and Kissinger. Kissinger comes off extremely badly as a doubledealing control freak. The CIA doesn't do much better. They were perfectly willing to massage intelligence when necessary. Snepp frequently was told to fudge up reports. I found it rather disconcerting how willing he was to do so.

The last quarter of the book describes the last day in Saigon. The scenes of panic and terror are gripping. The often difficult ethical choices people on all sides had to make are heart stopping.